


we'll find our hiding place, clear across the milky way

by cshmr



Series: nyxtober [2]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Fluff, Multi, Mythology References, Nyxtober, Stargazing, i'm still terrible at tagging fics, no beta we die like peip agents, they're soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26810878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cshmr/pseuds/cshmr
Summary: Time seems to slow down for a moment as they lie there, as close as they can be without actually being on top of each other, in the crisp fall air. It’s a clear night, the only clouds wisps on the horizon, and the sky looks gorgeous. A dot to dot of muted black and brilliant white, the only other color visible the deep, dark pines that are still slightly pigmented in the light of the moon, at the base of the hill. The men come here quite often, any night that they’re all off spent under a blanket of stars, and tonight is no exception. The hill is reasonably big, and only a fifteen minute or so walk from headquarters, which makes it ideal. Some of the younger agents frequent it during the day, tossing their cigarette butts onto the ground and challenging each other to foolish bets. But the nights are always quiet, the only noise their gentle words whispered to each other cutting through the silence every now and again.~~~prompt: godstitle from furthest star by dirt poor robins
Relationships: Wilbur Cross/John McNamara, Wilbur Cross/Xander Lee/John McNamara
Series: nyxtober [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955443
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	we'll find our hiding place, clear across the milky way

**Author's Note:**

> again, big thanks to ambergrayownsmyheart for the prompt list! now have some sleepy soft boys

[START COM LOG #031018:24]

[23:42] JLM: Busy?  
[23:42] JLM: Wil and I are outside.  
[23:46] AJL: coming  
[23:47] JLM: Did you finish your work?  
[23:47] AJL: coming  
[23:47] JLM: Xan, you know that’s not an answer.  
[23:48] AJL: coming anyway

[23:48] WTC: john told me to ask you if you’re done with your work  
[23:48] WTC: now, as your partner, i don’t care  
[23:48] WTC: but.  
[23:49] AJL: dont finish that sentence  
[23:49] WTC: as your commanding officer, that’s not a very good work ethic  
[23:49] WTC: your country should come before your love life, lee  
[23:51] AJL: this is why i love john more than you /j  
[23:52] WTC: boooo  
[23:54] AJL: i think i see you guys  
[23:54] WTC: hurry up  
[23:54] AJL: im coming!

[END COM LOG #031018:24]

Wilbur tosses the comm back onto the grass, which is thankfully no longer as dewy as it was in the morning. “He says he sees us, but from where we are, he could be ten minutes away and still see us.” John nods silently, taking Wilbur’s hand again as he lies back down. This is the best place to watch the stars, they’ve found. Out in the middle of nowhere that is the headquarters for their branch of PEIP, they’ve found that the ebony of the night always looks slightly darker, the faint warmth from the stars always slightly closer. In fact, the only light that isn’t from the chalky moon is from the small flashlight Wilbur had remembered at the last minute. Definitely a good thing it hadn't been left behind, the two agree. It would have been hard enough clambering down the slope in the fading amber of sunset, let alone for poor Xander to find them through the pitch black.

Time seems to slow down for a moment as they lie there, as close as they can be without actually being on top of each other, in the crisp fall air. It’s a clear night, the only clouds wisps on the horizon, and the sky looks gorgeous. A dot to dot of muted black and brilliant white, the only other color visible the deep, dark pines that are still slightly pigmented in the light of the moon, at the base of the hill. The men come here quite often, any night that they’re all off spent under a blanket of stars, and tonight is no exception. The hill is reasonably big, and only a fifteen minute or so walk from headquarters, which makes it ideal. Some of the younger agents frequent it during the day, tossing their cigarette butts onto the ground and challenging each other to foolish bets. But the nights are always quiet, the only noise their gentle words whispered to each other cutting through the silence every now and again.

A short while passes, and still Xander hasn’t shown.

“D’you think he decided to finish his work? Or better yet, decided not to work for days on end without sleep?”

“Wishful thinking, doll. He’s probably just held up for a moment.”

John hums in agreement, and shifts position slightly, nestling closer into Wilbur’s side. He reaches for the flashlight and turns it off. No point waiting - Xander could be hours, for all they know. “So which one do you want to talk about tonight, then?”

Considering for a moment, Wilbur gestures for the bottle that’s lying in the grass, and takes a swig once it’s passed to him. He points up to the sky with their interlocked hands, tracing lines between the stars with John’s finger. One line straight up, with a slight bend in the middle, then two more lines branching off one end of the first. “Aquila, or eagle of Zeus,” he whispers huskily. “Ten main stars with a lot more surrounding, you see them?”

“Yes. Those ones, just there?” he asks, gesturing.

“Yup, those. The brightest one is called Altair, I think. It’s Arabic, or Persain, maybe. And it also means eagle, which is pretty redundant.” John chuckles, already slightly sleepy. “There’s different stories surrounding it in different cultures, but the only one I really remember is the Greek. The eagle belonged to Zeus, and he used it to carry his thunderbolts. Some said the eagle used to be a king who was worshipped like a god, which angered Zeus. And Zeus was about to smite him when Apollo stepped in and turned him into an eagle.”

The two men pull each other slightly closer as the wind picks up for a moment, blowing a few leaves into John’s hair. Wilbur quickly starts to pull them out, fingers brushing tenderly through each lock. John’s clinging to him slightly tighter than he would care to admit, but right now, he doesn’t much care. The only other person who knows they're out there will likely join them in their small pile, if he ever shows up, and the musty curtain of charcoal night is enough to cloak them from view, anyway.

John listens attentively to Wilbur as he continues to talk, as he does every time. Wilbur clearly has a tendency to choose constellations with some sort of connection to Greek mythology: Orion, Virgo, Cepheus, Ophiuchus, all of them intertwined with the gods like threads of yarn, holding the universe together. Which, for all John knows, they very well might be.

He lies, content, as Wilbur’s hands work through his hair, slowly starting to braid it. “You know, dear, we always end up talking about mythology whenever we go stargazing. Why is that?”

“It’s just so fascinating,” Wilbur replies, without skipping a beat. “The power struggles, how lofty and grand everything seems but how close to us at the same time. It’s so… so dramatic and ridiculous, but in the best way.”

“And what about the gods, do you buy into them?”

“Buy into them?”

“You know, do you believe they’re out there, somewhere?”

The air falls silent for a moment, as if the world is holding its breath.

“I don’t know. When I was younger, I would've said no, but now, after everything we’ve seen? Poseidon’s existence would be a lot less strange than many of the gods and creatures we’ve fought. If they exist, why _not_ Hades, why _not_ Venus? We don't know.”

John pulls in closer to Wilbur's chest as the breeze whips up his spine. “See, I feel the opposite. We’ve seen so many things, and yet never anything close to these old gods. If they existed, surely we’d have found something that’s at least similar. PEIP’s been around for so long, and yet we’ve never seen anything like it. It just seems… illogical to me.” A pause. “But I suppose you’re more attached to the stories than I am.”

“My father used to talk about them a lot. He probably told me the story of the Trojan Horse about five thousand times, honestly.”

“That’s why you like that one so much?”

He nods. “Y’know, you never did tell me your favorite.”

“Pandora’s box. Hope, even in the worst of times - I mean, that’s practically my mantra.”

Wilbur smiles softly, the moon reflected in his eyes. “Why does it not surprise me that that’s your favorite?”

“You know me too well, that’s why.”

“Mm, I suppose I do.” There’s a moment of silence, comfortable, as the two lie together, the grass tickling their ankles. “There’s no Pandora constellation, or at least none that I know about, which is a shame. There is Pandora’s cluster, though. They discovered it pretty recently, I saw it on the news. It’s a cluster of four galaxies, all squashed together. There’s definitely no way I can point it out for you, though. It’s far too small.”

“See, I thought _I_ knew a lot about constellations before I met you, but holy shit. You always manage to outdo yourself, Cross.”

Wilbur smiles softly. “There’s something about Catholic boarding school that makes a young, lonely, gay boy very, very bored.”

“No, you’re just a genius.”

Finishing a couple of braids, Wilbur lets his arms fall back around John. “So’s Xan, though, and he knows nothing about constellations.”

“Fair point. But speaking of which, where _is_ he?” The two partially untangle and John sits up. “Oh, shit.”

“What?”

“We didn’t have the light on, he can't see where we are.”

“Damn it.” They scramble to find the flashlight, and when John eventually does, he quickly flicks it on and shines it in the direction of the building. A few hundred feet away, a figure can be seen, carrying something. They wave when they see the light, and start to hurry over. Satisfied, John lies back down and stays close to Wilbur, once more cold without someone by him.

Xander arrives a minute or so later with a grin on his face, and places a stack of files on the ground as he sits. “You couldn’t have kept the light on a minute or two longer? I walked out and saw the light, and then you idiots turn it off the second I’m nearly there.”

“John wanted to see the stars,” Wilbur says simply, wrapping an arm around Xander as the shorter man grabs the bottle out from the grass and lies down with them.

“Don’t blame this on me! Wil kept talking about mythology, and he was the one with the flashlight.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that-”

“How tragic!” Xander cuts in, overdramatic, as Wilbur rolls his eyes. “To be forgotten so cruelly by both-”

“Oh, shut it, Lee.” And he does, and the three men watch the stars together for a while, the peaks and valleys of the sky blossoming in a beautiful black and white watercolor. John eventually breaks the quiet.

“Zee?”

“Uh-huh?”

“What’s your favorite Greek myth?”

There’s a quiet as he thinks, the breeze whispering softly in their ears, the crickets chirping a lullaby. “The tale of Icarus. It’s got a really obvious moral, a warning against hubris, but I like it anyway. And in this line of work, keeping our feet on the ground is more important than it is anywhere else.”

John nods softly, half-asleep. “Speaking of work, what’re those files on?”

“The entity in the Black and White. Figured I could get some calculations done while I was out here, but clearly not.”

“Aww, c’mon. This is better than work.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

**Author's Note:**

> huh maybe i do like writing pure fluff with no angst. wack
> 
> also don't worry, i do know venus is a roman goddess and not a greek one, she was mentioned for Reasons


End file.
